Morne Morkel joins Indian Cricket Team as the official bowling coach

Former South African fast bowler Morne Morkel has been named as the new bowling coach for the Indian cricket team. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary Jay Shah confirmed the high-profile appointment of Morkel as India’s new bowling coach.

As reported by Cricbuzz, Morkel will begin his tenure as Team India’s new head coach on September 1, joining the Gautam Gambhir-headed coaching staff. Morkel, renowned for his explosive pace and strategic bowling, will bring a wealth of international experience to the Indian coaching setup.

Morne Morkel named India's new bowling coach

BCCI is set to make a formal announcement regarding Morkel's appointment shortly. The South African star’s first assignment with the Indian team will be the two-match Test series against Bangladesh next month. This will be Morkel's second job at the international level, replacing Paras Mhambrey as the bowling coach of the Indian cricket team.

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Earlier, the Proteas great worked as the bowling coach of the Pakistan cricket team until November 2023. Morkel will be working under the Indian head coach, Gambhir, with whom he has previously worked in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).

Speaking about Morkel’s career as a player, the former fast bowler has taken more than 500 wickets for South Africa in all three formats of the game. Morkel has 309 wickets in 86 games to his name in Test cricket, along with 188 and 47 wickets in 117 ODI matches and 144 T20I matches, respectively.

With Morkel’s appointment as the bowling coach, India’s coaching staff is completed, with Gambhir being the head coach, Abhishek Nayar and Ryan Ten Doeschate as the assistant coaches, and T. Dilip as the fielding coach. Sairaj Bahutule worked as the interim bowling coach for India on their recent Sri Lanka tour, where they suffered embarrassing defeats in the ODI series.

BCCI announces changes for Bangladesh and England series

Meanwhile, the BCCI has announced two changes to India's upcoming home season schedule. The first T20I against Bangladesh, originally set to be hosted in Dharamsala, will now take place in Gwalior on October 6. Additionally, the venues for the first and second T20Is against England, scheduled for January 2025, have been swapped.

Kolkata will now host the first T20I, while Chennai will stage the second T20I between India and England next year. The decision to relocate the Bangladesh T20I was taken due to the ongoing upgrades and renovation work on the dressing rooms at the HPCA stadium in Dharamshala.

This was the second time an international match has been moved from Dharamsala after a Test between India and Australia was relocated to Indore due to issues with the outfield in February 2023.

On the other hand, Gwalior’s Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium will host the first match later this year when India will face Bangladesh in the first T20I game. It will also be the first international game in Gwalior since 2010, when Sachin Tendulkar scored his first double-century in ODI cricket.